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Retiring Public Employee to 500 Colleagues: I Haven’t Worked in 14 Years!

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A retiring German public employee thought it’d be a good idea to email his 500 coworkers and let them all know he had been paid to do nothing for the last 14 years.

“Since 1998, I was only present but not really there. So I’m going so well prepared to retire,” the former public employee wrote in his farewell letter. He also made sure to mention that during all those years he did nothing, the city of Mendon (in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia) paid him about $975,000.

The retiree says that because of constant reshuffling at his job, he managed to get away with never having to work. Of course, according toDie Welt, he never mentioned any of this to his supervisors while, you know, he was being paid.

Naturally, many people, most especially the mayor of Mendon, are furious (or in a “considerable pinch of rage,” as the mayor puts it) over the letter.

“This kind of behaviour is very telling,” the mayor said, according to the Local.

The retiree wasn’t expecting the farewell letter to get the type of attention it has received from the German press. So instead of it being a satisfying Johnny Paycheck moment, he has managed to tick off an entire country.

“The 65-year-old thought he had had the last word before heading out of the office door for the last time — except his email was leaked to the regional media and he is now the focus of some attention,” the Local report adds.

“I do not wish to say anything else,” he told his local paper. “That email was not intended for public view.”

Well, that public money wasn’t intended to be wasted, so let’s call it even.